Reflected Red
by Stars in a Shoebox
Summary: Kakashi hopes Naruto can bring Sasuke back. Because they shouldn't be reflections anymore. SPOILERS One-shot


Reflected Red

Hatake Kakashi is very observant. He has to be, he's a jounin, and former ANBU besides. He's been well-trained in the art of watching and noticing.

So well-trained that he can't seem to stop doing it. Even when not on dangerous missions where one missed detail could cost the mission and lives, Kakashi watches.

And not just big things, either. Kakashi watches everything, from the perfume that Kurenai is wearing that day to how the old lady next to the Yamanaka flower shop is walking with a slight limp. Nothing escapes Kakashi's gaze, and his students are no exception.

In fact, he watches his students more than anything else. Even at first, when he tells them he hates them, really he is watching. To see their reactions, what they do, what kind of people they are. He watches Naruto charge at him and Sakura moon over Sasuke and Sasuke- Sasuke's whole posture and mindset which reminds him very painfully of someone he knew at that age.

Their little team is passed, becomes a part of the Rookie Nine and Kakashi is not sad he did it, because it means he can keep watching them.

He watches Sasuke and Naruto especially, and sees similarities he'd rather not see.

The way they fight, the fire in their eyes when they do, the cool insults tossed around to warrant loud, violent reactions. Hell, even their insults are the same, and Kakashi finds himself watching them more and more.

They are a good team, despite the obvious flaws in their teamwork and the fights which still break out like clockwork. They are only genin, of course, and get the easy missions, the low-ranking ones of finding someone's pet cat and weeding a garden. And again, with startling similarity, he sees them grow tired of these missions.

He watches as Naruto yells and whines about the lack of good missions, and finally they are given a C-rank. Even Sasuke looks satisfied, Kakashi notices, like he'd shared Naruto's sentiments but not quite as loudly.

Old pain shoots through him. They are so similar.

He watches Naruto stab himself, and promise to never need help again, and pain lances through his heart.

He watches Sasuke shake and shake and shake because he doesn't know what else to do but can't cry or show any form of weakness. It's against his clan. More pain.

_I won't let my comrades die._

So familiar, his genin team. Reflections, down to the mannerisms, of Kakashi's childhood. He knows them so well.

Watches them work together, fight together- pride and pain at the same time (_I couldn't do that. Keep doing that)._

Their training, too- Sakura masters it right away, of course, and is sent to go stand guard. Sasuke and Naruto compete- who can get to the top the fastest?

_You'll never beat me, teme!_

_Says you, dobe._

Kakashi is glad his mask covers most of his face. Easier to hide behind.

Kakashi watches them both return, dead-tired, chakra-depleted, barely able to walk and leaning heavily on each other for support- but accomplished. They've done it.

He wishes he could say the same thing.

But he can't, so he settles for watching Naruto and Sasuke.

Battle on the bridge, Naruto shows up when Sasuke needs him- Kakashi is glad. They can do this, they can fight together. He focuses on his own battle, but watches, watches out of the corner of his eye.

Then the jutsu holding them breaks- only one comes out, and for one heart-stopping moment, dragged out entirely too long, Kakashi is reminded of the past more painfully than ever- _not now, not in the middle of this_- and has to clench his eyes and grit his teeth and fight on determinedly.

And they deviate.

They deviate from the paths Kakashi's childhood took as Sasuke wakes up- _Sakura, you're heavy_- and relief _floods_ through him, greater than he has ever felt.

Sasuke is not dead. He has a chance. He has the rest of his life.

Kakashi can go back to watching, and he does.

Watches Naruto watching his first death. Watches Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, cry as the loud ninja_ screams_ at him about caring. Watches them die together, and the snow falls like frozen tears.

His team has improved, he thinks as they walk home. Much farther than his ever did, and in a shorter amount of time. His genin are special, and he watches them.

They take on the chuunin exam because he believes them ready, and they all three pass the first test. Kakashi is so proud.

Second test, harder, but still easy for them, he thinks.

They pass.

But Sasuke is starting to remind him more and more of himself, and has a mark on his neck which worries Kakashi, and so he intervenes. After Sasuke proves the prowess of the Uchiha clan in the preliminaries. Naruto cheers for him.

Kakashi is glad, even as he seals Sasuke up and takes him to be trained. _Knows_ he can be trained in this art because Sasuke is just like him, really, no matter how much Kakashi wants to stop that.

He can't train Naruto because of it, but he knows he will succeed. Naruto is not aware of his own strength yet.

The reflections grow weaker, wink when their original is not looking. They are growing, Kakashi notices. Growing along their own paths. Kakashi is glad.

Sasuke is quite a bit more arrogant when he enters his fight in the chuunin exam. Side-effect of being with him for a month, Kakashi thinks.

He doesn't win. The match is stopped and Sasuke runs. Naruto goes after him.

Kakashi can't watch, can't come with them. He thinks he knows what Iruka felt like when they were volunteered for the chuunin exam. Kakashi is sick to his stomach, but he maintains his hope, even though shinobi aren't supposed to. Naruto is strong. And Sasuke is smart. Naruto will get him.

Sasuke doesn't come back.

Naruto does.

He's angry, and upset and sad and hurt and a million other things, and it's all Kakashi can do not to join him in his emotional instability.

The reflection isn't even wavering anymore. It's fading, fading fast, and not in the way Kakashi had hoped.

It hurts. It hurts a lot.

And Naruto goes off to train, the years fly by. Kakashi is looking, looking, for Sasuke, for Naruto, without really looking. He watches Sakura grow and train and become a wonderful kunoichi. Her reflection, at least, is still clear and beautiful. And Kakashi is proud.

And then there is the Akatsuki, and they want Naruto and Itachi is here and Kakashi can barely keep from cursing him out for twisting Sasuke so, for sending him down the path that he's chosen. It is not a good path, and will only end in death. And Kakashi is still afraid, because despite all the obvious differences, the similarities are still glaringly obvious and he _doesn't want that._

Naruto comes back. He is so different, so much more mature, even in the way he looks. Stronger, not as easily excitable, but still Naruto. Still Konoha's Loudest Ninja, even with the refinement. He is a streamlined Naruto, and Kakashi is left wondering whether or not his friend could have ended up like that.

There is something in his eyes, though, that few ninja have. A shadow, lurking near the back, red and deep and hurt and anger. It threatens to consume him sometimes, through countless fights.

He is still himself, though, glaringly himself. Determined and pure and straightforward, making an impression on everyone. It hurts Kakashi's heart and fills it with pride, stuck between the could-have-been and the will-be. They save the Kazekage with this stubbornness, and Sakura proceeds to impress him yet again. She is a wonderful kunoichi, and that same feeling fills him. His students. His reflections. Moving past the mirrors into their own futures.

Kakashi vows to watch them for as long as he can.

They are going after the Akatsuki and Sasuke and Orochimaru. Sasuke has defected; he doesn't want to come back. He can see the hope and determination that shine so brightly in Naruto's eyes fade just a little. Kakashi wants to stoke those flames. If they die, Konoha is doomed.

He regains himself, however, and gains a new teammate through it all. Not Sasuke, not by a long shot, but he'll suffice until the Uchiha returns.

And he will return, right? He's defeated Itachi, they're told, Uchiha Itachi is dead and so is Orochimaru.

Sasuke still doesn't come back. And no one can figure out why. His goal is accomplished, what more could he need? Kakashi doesn't know. It's more than a little disconcerting to realize, too. He's not used to having no idea.

Kakashi can only guess that there something, somewhere, left unfinished by Sasuke and if the boy is anything like him- _and oh, god, is he like him_- then he needs to finish them. Unfinished is unacceptable.

People die. People close to them die, and it is hard and still Kakashi can only watch. Sasuke is gone, Asuma is gone, _Jiraiya_ is gone and Kakashi can only sit back and let Naruto deal with it all. It will make him stronger.

Kakashi can't help the hope that fills him, though, every time he sees Naruto. The flame has returned to his eyes. He will not let Sasuke stay away.

In some twisted way, Kakashi feels like he's 13 again and he's the one being rescued by a certain loudmouthed crybaby.

They are such perfectly warped reflections of his own genin team. It is frightening and awe-inspiring at the same time to watch them reach the heights he never could.

Kakashi hopes Naruto gets Sasuke back.

They shouldn't be reflections anymore.


End file.
